


starry nights and thin smiles

by jackopancake



Category: Gintama
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-02
Updated: 2015-05-02
Packaged: 2018-03-26 17:34:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3859015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jackopancake/pseuds/jackopancake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As long as he could see the stars, everything would be alright.</p>
            </blockquote>





	starry nights and thin smiles

“Who could’ve… who would even think of trying this?”

Kotarō stood there, fingers drumming against his arm anxiously as he stared at the man laying in the hospital bed.

“And against you, of all people?”

“Ahaha, Zura! You really don’t understand my line of work,” Tatsuma muttered, voice soft. He shook his head slowly, loopy with painkillers. “You make enemies as a businessman…” He rolled his head so that it was staring out into the night, trying to catch sight of the stars. Kotarō noted this, and flicked off the lights. “Ah, thank you.”

He still couldn’t see the stars, and his bed wasn’t the type to be moved easily. He made a small noise. Kotarō nodded, knowing what he meant. They had a way of communication no one really caught on, a part of them they both understood while the others looked on in confusion.

“Where’s-”

“You know where.” Searching for the man who did this. Tatsuma shook his head again. _Bastard, taking justice into his own hands again...._

Tatsuma, in retrospect, should not have lived.

 

 

Gintoki got a phone call around 1:20pm on November 15th of that year. He grumbled as he picked it up. It was the third phone call that day from the same number, a number he didn’t even know.

“Gintoki,” came the voice across the line. “I’ve called you three times.”

“Oh, Zura.” Gintoki rubbed his face. Couldn’t use a normal number, could he? What, did the Shinsengumi finally stake out his normal phone call location? “What do you want?”

There was silence on the other end, and Gintoki knew that Kotarō must be debating whether to just hang up. Given his tone, he was thoroughly annoyed at the guy. Oi, he should know not to call at this hour in the afternoon! Gintoki was about to nap again (the third time that day, in fact). The silence today seemed different, however, and it continued for longer than normal, before Gintoki heard a shaky sigh. “...Zura?”

He wasn’t even correcting Gintoki on his nickname usage.

“Tatsuma’s been incapacitated.”

 _Inca...pacitated?_   “Use simple words, Zura.” Except, well, Gintoki fully knew what he meant by that. He just needed clarification… on what happened. _Tatsuma...?_

Kotarō cleared his throat on the other end. “I don’t know. All I know is that one of my men found him and one of his higher-ups slowly bleeding to death in an inn close to here.”

Ah… Gintoki let out a shaky breath.

“The other man didn’t make it. Tatsuma’s in ICU, but he’ll live. I called to tell you that.”

 

 

He couldn’t move his legs.

It didn’t bother him. Not right away, at least. He had been shot, amateurly, three times in the back, and one bullet had severed his lower spine. “The doctors’ll fix it,” he’d mutter. “We have Amanto technology now.”

He always did trust Amanto technology.

Except Amanto technology couldn’t heal this.

 

 

Tatsuma woke up one day to Gintoki dozing off in a hospital chair next to his bed, and Kotarō staring out the window. This was the first day Gintoki had visited. It had been two weeks.

He didn’t say anything. He wished he could have a sleeve to chew on, or a scarf to fiddle with, or even something to pop.

He needed comfort.

It was frustrating, not being able to move his legs when he could before.

And yet another attempt passed, and his toes still could not wiggle

 

 

“Good play, Tatsuma!” His brain was still as sharp as ever, and this was the fifth Uno game he’s won during his stay in the hospital. Gintoki let out a hoot and slammed his cards down. “Want to play Monopoly next?”

He was trying to keep Tatsuma entertained; his spirits were starting to falter. Tatsuma just shook his head.

Staying in the hospital for this long was hard. Gintoki could tell that Tatsuma just wanted to go home. And yet, he received a grin from the man that accompanied the head shaking. He was always presenting himself in good spirits.

 

 

Kotarō could tell otherwise. "We need to do something, Gintoki." They were sitting in the cafeteria, Kotarō eating some instant noodles while Gintoki stared at a gross, hospital-quality parfait. Neither of them were really hungry. "Remember what we talked about? Do you think we could-"

"Nah," Gintoki retorted, waving a hand lopsidedly. "At least, they wouldn't let us."

With an annoyed huff, Kotarō gave a nod. "If we think it'll work, it'll work. This is Tatsuma we're talking about. You know how he is with it. Also, you're carrying him."

"What?! Why me?!"

Kotarō smiled.

 

 

"Where're you guys taking me?" Tatsuma inquired, chewing on the end of a pen he was holding. "This is against the rules, y'know. Aha ha ha ha!"

"Shut your goddamn mouth," Gintoki hissed, hoisting Tatsuma up a bit more on his back. Damn, he was heavy for a man who had been sitting in the hospital for over a month. "You're loud."

"I can't help that!" Again, he laughed. Sometimes, Gintoki wondered if that was true. He huffed as he finally made it to the roof entrance door. Unauthorized, eh? Unauthorized his ass. He pushed it open and trudged up the stairs.

Ah... Tatsuma was definitely heavy now.

Kotarō was waiting for them at the top. "You can take your blindfold off, Tatsuma."

The merchant stuck the pen into Gintoki's yukata before unraveling the blindfold around his eyes. He knew what they had done; he was observant enough to know that there was really only one reason why they'd take him out on the roof at night during a new moon.

Yet, it was still just as breathtaking.

 

 

He sat out there for two hours, staring at the stars. Pointing and labeling tonight's constellations, mapping out the position of the stars in the sky. "That one's a planet," he'd say sometimes. A special interest, space was. He knew everything, could info dump for hours.

He fell asleep on the roof, and Gintoki had to carry him back down again. Kotarō was already gone, having heard sirens in the distance, being the criminal he is.

Tatsuma slept well that night. As long as he could see the stars, everything would be alright.

 

**Author's Note:**

> For Joui Week on Tumblr! The prompt was "pain", though this isn't exactly like that. (Fun fact: Sakamoto Ryoma was born - and assassinated - on November 15th, aka his birthday.)


End file.
